Monday, 27 September 2010

Energy Secretary, Chris Huhne has backed plans for an extra £22billion in green taxes, meaning fuel prices could increase massively and spell the end for many UK based hauliers.

The Liberal Democrat minister has backed a call to see 10 per cent of all Government revenue to come from green taxes within the next five years. Forecasters have predicted that revenue from green taxes is to fall from 6.9 per cent of the total to 6.5 per cent over the next five years, in order to raise the amount to 10 per cent; an extra £22 billion would be needed.

While the increase could see fuel costs rise by an unprecedented amount, the party have argued that it would allow them to lower other taxes. Mr Huhne said: “All the evidence is that the green tax switch is popular as long as people can see the extra revenue being used to cut other taxes. Green taxes make so much sense in the current financial climate. Whatever we do with the revenue, green taxes help us meet our climate targets and our environmental goals”.

Fuel price in the UK are already considerably more expensive than on continental Europe and, coupled with change in EU regulations, British hauliers simply cannot compete in their own market. New research by market analysts Plimsoll points out that 295 UK based Hauliers are already in dire financial difficulty – they simply cannot afford further taxation.